


Drums And Strings

by KateSmithNoble



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Donna is about to marry Chris btw., Focus on John & Harry, M/M, band au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 04:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1674548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KateSmithNoble/pseuds/KateSmithNoble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens if Ten, Eleven, Nine and The Master end up to be all human and be in one band.<br/>They are called the Wild Endeavour and they're giving a concert in the evening. </p>
<p>Ten --> John<br/>The Master --> Harry<br/>Eleven --> Elijah<br/>Nine --> Chris</p>
<p>John and Harry are childhood friends and founded the band many years back in a garage. Friends..until now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drums And Strings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ser_padfoot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ser_padfoot/gifts).



> So basically this was a request from time-lord-ramnikul a few ..oh god I'm horrible...months back. And I sometimes got really stuck and couldn't work.  
> Until I decided I want to give this to him for his birthday ^.^ 
> 
> Here you go BAND AU for the three Doctor's and the Master. Also warning. It is not beta-read and might have quite a few mistakes ;)

"Oi! Wake up John! It's nearly two in the afternoon!" said Donna, gently shaking her younger brother, but all she got in response was an annoyed sleepy groan. He shrugged her hand away and pushed the blanket over his head. 

"Go away Donna. I've got an hangover..let me sleep or die..."  
The red haired woman laughed and hold out a hand towards him, offering him a cup of tea.  
Most people would go with coffee, but John didn't like it.  
"Tea and there are donuts with banana filling in the kitchen, but for those you have to get up."  
Hearing that the thin man shifted on the sofa and sat up, his hair incredibly messy, gladly accepting the offered mug.  
Satisfied Donna smiled at him and said:  
"I will go an wake up Elijah and Chris. You can try to wake up Harry, because I can't. " she pointed next to him at the blonde drummer slightly snoring as he fell asleep on his back, with mouth half open. John chuckled at the sight and nodded slightly, taking the first sip from the tea.  
Upon that Donna left the room and soon he could hear an even more annoyed reaction to the waking. Yeah Chris was even worse than him.

Still sleepy he stretched his neck and reached out his hand to the shoulder of the sleeping man next to him on the sofa.  
"Harry..wake up..Come on.."  
No reaction, so he shook him a little bit harder. "Harry!" he said a little bit louder.  
John almost spilled his tea, when the other startled from his sleep.  
Harry sat up, leaning back against the backrest, pressing his eyes shut again. Too bright for someone with a hangover. With a pained whimper he let himself slide back onto the sofa and pressed his hands to his eyes, rubbing the dizziness from them.  
"Time?.." he asked quietly  
"About two in the afternoon. The gig is in six hours." answered John, looking down at his best friend.  
The blond tilted his head so he could see him and answered:  
"Six hours to get rid of this fucking headache`?...Manageable...maybe."  
John laughed at that quietly and watched Harry get up, stretching like a big cat on the sofa and when the other was on his feet, tumbling quite dangerously, he added:  
"There is coffee in the kitchen." and got up himself.  
"Coffee?" said the blond, his eyes immediately brighter merely from mentioning the word and turned to the door, followed by the other musician.

Both of them got into the kitchen just when Donna was pouring a big coffee for Chris, who was munching some pancakes. When she saw them coming in, she automatically made another one for Harry.  
"Thanks" he murmured and sat down.

They were eating in almost complete silence, under the unspoken agreement of not triggering the headache by speaking, when Elijah stumbled in.  
Well more like stormed in really. He was already singing some random melody.  
"Good morning everyone!" he shouted from the door cheerfully.  
"Shhhhhh....hangover." shushed him Donna as the other band members cringed at the loud noise.  
"Ahh yes sorry" answered the singer and approached the table, grabbing some orange juice and pancakes.  
"Donna..you're a saint." looked up John from his food with a big smile. The others nodded and made some approving noises, mouths still full with the delicious breakfast.  
"Of course I am, now finish up you lot. We have to be at the club in three hours for the sound check.

***************

Two hours, several mugs of coffee and showers later, the band arrived at the small club in South London. It was the one of those ones with a stair leading to the underground door, with walls covered by graffiti and low ceilings. Just basically perfect for a intimate gig with tremendous ambiance.  
It took them quite a while to get their instruments and amps from the van and even with the help of the others Harry finished setting up the drums as the last.  
He looked back at his kit, rolling his head to get rid of the tension in it, before going backstage to join the others. They still had something about half an hour before they would be summoned for the sound check.  
As he entered the room, he saw Elijah eating something that looked like Jelly Babies, Chris drinking a beer and Donna sitting on his lap as always. John was sitting on the sofa, holding his guitar and obviously tuning it with a little box connected to it, an electronic tuner.  
Harry grabbed a beer and let himself fall next to John on the sofa, earning a “Finally. Did you get it a new varnish or something?” from the thin guitarist.  
Rolling his eyes, he opened the bottle on the edge of the table and leaned back taking a first gulp of the drink, supporting one foot on the table.  
He turned his head to the other and watched him precisely placing his longer fingers on the neck of the guitar, pressing down the strings to the wood. A small smile appeared on his face. He had always loved to watch John playing, even when they were just in his garage, writing the first songs for a nonexistent band at that point.  
John unplugged the tuner and started to play a silent melody, smiling at something only he could hear. The drink in Harry's hand was almost forgotten and it took him about a minute to actually look away from his friend. On the way he caught a look from Donna who had a smile on her face as she shook her head a tiny bit and brought her attention back to Chris.  
Harry frowned a little bit, stretching his neck and took a good gulp of the beer in his hand.

By the time he had finished it the manager of the club called them in for the sound check.  
It went well and they were finished in about fifteen minutes. Those were just the general settings for them, the fine adjusting had to be done after their supporting act is done.  
Putting the drumsticks in the back pocket of his trousers, he waited for the others to join him. They had settled on getting some food together before the gig.  
As the others joined him, he listened to Elijah and John fighting over some television series they both liked. Harry just rolled his eyes at them.  
Fanboys…

With a sigh from him, they’ve entered the little take away and all of them started to order their stuff. Donna ordered for herself and Chris, Elijah his own food and John just automatically order also for Harry, not even asking what he wanted to have. He knew him just too well.  
“Thanks…” said the drummer with a smile when the waitress brought the food, but it was more towards his best friend and not her. John grinned back, his face lightning up by it. The blond looked down on his food and started to eat, occasionally glancing up and always catching John looking at him. It wasn't too obvious but he still noticed and smiled at him, but didn't comment upon it.

Unavoidably Donna started to rave about the upcoming wedding, taking Chris hand across the table and after finishing a long explanation about the party afterwards her fiancé had a goofy smile on his face and just added a simple: "It will be fantastic."

"I can't wait to see my skinny little brother in a tuxedo and maybe with some decent haircut" said Donna grinning at John, who chocked on his food and made everyone else laugh with it.

Coughing he frowned at his sister and ran a hand though his messy hair: "Forget that dear sister. You're not touching my hair and I don't like tuxedos"

"Still you will wear one. Like all of you will" said the ginger, letting it sound like an order and no one protested anymore. Don't mess with the bride and even more if it was her. No chance to win that.

"You look good in a tuxedo, you know?" said Harry to John as they left the restaurant and walked back to the club. The guitarist turned his head to him in surprise

Quickly he added: "I mean compared to Elijah and Chris."

John laughed shortly and answered fairly amused: "Oh yes, but that's not a big achievement." He let his next sentence sound a little bit softer and there was a strange note in his voice. "I bet you look better." Harry raised both of his eyebrows returning the smile and nudged the other with his shoulder

"Fair enough. I look better."

"I just wanted to be polite you idiot."

"I don't think so."

"Alriight I meant it" laughed John, pushing his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Oi you two lovebirds back there, hurry up, we are late!" shouted Donna at them. They had fallen back from the group without even realising it. On both of their faces showed a crooked smile as they doubled their pace.

        ~*~

They were late. Really late. There was already a long queue in front of the club. The fans were turning their heads to them, but only a few dared to abandon their position for the sake of an autograph.

The band gave some quick signatures and excused themselves to get in through the backstage-door. Instantly they started to prepare for the concert, already hearing that the people were let in. It was almost a routine in which the preparation proceeded.

Soon everything was in its place and they were about to go through the set up again, when Elijah returned wearing something completely different. The longer dark green coat would be acceptable but...

"Are you serious, Elijah? A bow tie ?? A bloody bow tie ?! It's ridiculous." said Chris with a frown, who was the only one who didn't start to laugh at the sight of their lead singer.

"What's wrong with it? Bow ties are cool."

"No they really are not. You look like a clown. Take it off."

"No. It looks quite fashionable, but how would you know that" snapped back Elijah, adjusting his newest accessory.

"You're a hopeless case, I give up." said Chris shaking his head about his friend and looked back at the list of songs in his big hands.

Catching their breaths after a good laugh, John and Harry grabbed their sheets from the table and both looked at the set up. Donna apparently made a few adjustments about a week before after a the fans had voted for their favourite songs. When they both reached almost the end of it, a smile appeared on their faces, even if they knew that song was there. Looking up they wordlessly shared the smile with the other.

It was an old song they have written before Elijah and Chris had joined them. It was pure nostalgia to play it after such a long time.

The band went briefly through the planned steps of the gig, including the order in which they will enter the stage and which songs will be only played when the audience calls them back and similar details. The rest of the time they've spend chatting or in Elijah's case singing in.

When they were called in, they got up and went to the small corridor leading up to the stage. It was tiny there. The tech guys were making the last checks on the stage and the loud noises of the excited audience were a good sign for an entertaining show.

Then everything went silent.

In the hall the lights went out and the audience was engulfed in darkness.

Then there was a voice of a girl singing a lullaby which was soon joined by dramatic classic music. Epic intro they've carefully put together to make sure a shiver would run down everyone's back who heard it for the first time.

The plan was that Harry would enter first, but he and John accidentally switched places. Since the corridor was really narrow, they were shortly pressed chest to chest as Harry slipped by. "Thanks god you're so skinny" mumbled the blond when he finally got past his best friend.

"Mhm thought it would be useful for something" answered John with a crooked smile and watched Harry walk out on the stage, accompanied with screams from their fans.

Harry quickly got behind his drums, twirled the drumstick in his hand and ,with constantly getting louder, tuned into the beat of the intro as naturally as if the beat would always be in his head. Next John (with a little bit more screaming) and Chris got out. They both joint the melody, staying in a lower volume than the recording, until Elijah ran out on the stage. They took over and smoothly slipped from the intro into the first song.

It was one of the faster ones and the crowd went already crazy. Interesting that people seem to be able creat a pit for almost everything.

When the song was over, Elijah stepped up on the one of the amplifier and shouted into the microphone: "How are you, London?"

And pointed it towards the audience, the other hand hold to his ear as he was trying to hear better. The resulting cheers were satisfying enough, since the singer continued: " Welcome, welcome hope you enjoyed Ada Fricai" he waited a few seconds till the approving shouts died down. "Go buy their stuff..ah yes and don't forget to buy our stuff too. A lot of cool stuff there."

"Unlike the monstrosity around your neck." uttered Chris in a microphone and the crowd laughed.

Elijah adjusted his bow tie again and retorted: "You're just jealous, Chris. I look good, don't I ?"

The crowd just gave a few shouts to agree, but all of the other band members shook their heads theatrically and made them laugh again. The singer frowned shortly at them and turned back to the people looking up to them.

"The next song is called 'Let them burn'" and with the last words Harry had already started to play the beat on the cymbals, John joining with a quick guitar intro.

        ~★~

The concert went really good. There was the main dancing crazy part of the crowd, the casual watchers in the background who were just enjoying the music and then there were the fans in the first rows, mostly girls. A lot of them didn't look away from John and Elijah. Not for a second. Especially a blonde girl was obsessively watching all of John's moves. Even with the flashlights blinding them, the guitarist noticed it and gave her a personal smile.

Being a little bit flirty with the fans was almost a necessary part of their job.

All of the songs were almost a routine and they included a nice drum solo and a guitar solo. After a while they were all sweating, but felt amazing. A rush from playing was one of the reasons they all loved this job.  
They finished the last song and with screams and cheers from the crows left the stage. They were only catching their breaths and drinking something, since the crowd started to chant.

“Wild Endeavour! One more song! Encore! Encore! Wild Endeavour!”

John laughed out of pure happiness on being so welcomed by their fans and about having played so much in the last hour. It was like forgetting everything and just do what he loved the most.  
“Shall we?” said Harry with a grin and make a theatrical bow, holding out his hand to a side to gesture towards the entrance to the stage.  
“Oh yes. Come on!” answered the guitarist and grabbed around his waist and pushing the surprised drummer in front of him. Playfully Harry leaned back and tried to stop him, but just managed that his head was on John’s shoulder and the other’s hands pushing at his hips to move.  
His knees gave in and he just told himself it was because John was stronger.  
Nothing else.

They both stumbled onto the stage with cheers coming from the crowd. Harry turned back and grinned at his best friend before he retrieved back behind his drum kit.

They added three songs to their concert. When they were about to play the last one. They made a small break and John got himself an acoustic guitar, sat down on the edge of stage, supported the instrument on his knee and started to play a softer melody. He was on the right side relatively to Harry and even from his position he could see the smile on John's lips. And he had to smile himself

Finally. There it was the old song. Their song. He joined in with a slow tender beat, playing almost blind since he knew it in and out.

Soon Elijah started to sing and there were small lights appearing in the crowd. Lighters moving in small waves along the melody. And the atmosphere got slow and warm, enough to bring Harry to do a thing he didn't for quite a while. He turned one of the micros from a tom-tom towards himself and started to sing along Elijah. First a little bit insecure, although never missing a note, but he got louder as John looked up at him. He grinned at him, clear surprise in his eyes and got up. John walked over to his own microphone and joined in, his voice displaying the smile on his face. Elijah got quieter towards the end and they basically took over the song. Both of them grinning and singing like they did in a dusty garage so many years ago.

When the song was over and the last notes faded into the soft silence, there was no reaction from the audience, all of them still caught up in the lingering atmosphere. After a few seconds there was a single hesitant applause from the enjoy-quietly-back-crowd and it grew into a deafening applause accompanied by cheers and the band's name chanted.

"GOOD NIGHT!" shouted the bamnd in unison to overcome the noise.

Elijah made a little bow, John threw a few plactrons into the crowd and as they were leaving Harry gave them the splittered drumsticks as well. And Chris sort of waved and walked up to Donna who was standing sideways with a huge grin, grabbed around her waist and kissed her, tilting her back as if they were dancing tango. That got the some wistles and John theatrically clasping his hand over his eyes, but was actually laughing.

As the lights went out and the band disappeared backstage, the crowd finally started to move, people running out to catch the last tube and others massively moving towards the bar.

~*~

"Magnificent! Did you hear them?! We're good." exclaimed Elijah as they got backstage, his face bright like pure sunshine. He had always been keen of giving a good show.

They were too exhauster and too pumped up with the rush of the concert to do any sort of debriefing. Chris and Donna had disappeared god knows where already anyway.

"That was brilliant!" said John and turned back to face Harry

"...and you should sing more often. I almost forgot how good you are."

"So are you." smiled back the drummer and actually laughed when his best friend went for a hug.

"You sentimental idiot." mumbled Harry into his shoulder but actually returned the embrace, noting to himself that they were all sweat drained t-shirts and damp hair. Strangely enough he didn't mind. That's exactly how they should be after a good gig.

John obviously noticed it too and pulled away with an apologetic smile.

"Better get a new shirt right? See you at the bar! Fans are waiting" he said already backing out of the room. Harry shook his head slightly and with a smile went to get himself a new shirt too. As perceptive as he was he had already put it out beforehand. Preparation is everything.

~*~

Unfortunately there was no shower around like John would have liked to have. A clean shirt and some deodorant had to do. He had an old well-worn dark green one in the back of the van. He took the towel and dried his hair and torso with it, making his hair incredibly messy, before putting on the new dry clothes. The soft cotton felt almost like a loving atroke on his skin and he started to calm down a little bit.

Still there was a soft smile on his lips. He couldn't help himself as he tried to went through the concert and it all sort of seemed muffled by only a few seconds. The moment he heard Harry sing and turned around and saw him, smiling, returning the gaze like if he would sing only for him. He liked that thought a lot more than he probably should. How much of a fan-ish thinking that was, especially since him and Harry spend a lot of time singing and jamming together.

With a grin on his face John headed for the bar, putting on his favourite leather jacket on the way,  and as soon as he entered the room he looked around and found Harry facing away from him, but with two beers in front of him. He was obviously waiting for him. The guitarist headed towards him, but completely forgot that he was in the public and especially that this was right after a concert. So he ended up being stopped by the blonde girl that was in the front row and he could even see the huge amount of fanmerch in her bag. Her friend, dark skin and intelligent dark eyes was standing next to her and even though she shared her adoration she also seemed more in control of herself.  
John glanced over to his best friend and than almost unwillingly turned back to the blond to give her his big smile. She introduced herself as Rose and even when he took a tiny step back she followed and was always in his personal space. He figured that he better let it go and answered her questions and after a few sentences actually started to pay attention.

 That girl was interesting in a fascinating normal way. Yes fangirly all at once, but he was used to that.  It was more that he actually could talk to her and soon his smile wasn't that much of a forced smile but a real one.  She kept him entertained and they were soon standing next to the bar, but quite a distance away from the drummer and John glanced up over Rose's shoulder to see the other looking at him with a strange look. It wasn't exactly angry, but maybe slightly hurt.  John smiled apologetically a  little bit drunk from the beer already and looked down at the girl who had stepped even closer.  
Almost out of accident he turned flirtatious in his answers along with her although she was a lot more obvious than him and when he had finished the third beer, he found himself being pulled down by her hands on the lapels of his leather jacket and her full lips were pressed against his. In shock he didn't really respond, but didn't push her away either. Well he did, but it was too late for her not to notice that he wasn't actually up to that. She frowned at him and he explained that he wasn't one of the people who would screw around with fans and use them, because all they want is the musician not more.  Needless to say that she basically slapped him and walked away with tears in her eyes and her friend's arm around her shoulders. Wonderful now he was the arse in that situation. He had actually liked her or more he wanted to find out more about her, but it wasn't her intention.  Oh well it wasn't the first time that happened.

Finally free he looked to Harry, but he wasn't there.  Only one cup of beer spilled on the bar.  
Confused he searched for him and just about saw him walking quickly out of the door.  
"W..what?" mumbled John far too silently for anyone to hear, but his sister saw him and for a few seconds tore herself away from Chris and walked up to him.  He looked down at her and she gave a long sigh, rolled her eyes and pushed herself up on her tiptoes so he could hear her better.  
"You're a blind idiot, John. You both are and god help me if you don't go after him now...you'd be the biggest fool in human's history" and with that she nodded towards the exit. Surprised and still confused he hesitantly followed her suggestion until he was sidling through the crowd as fast as possible. He had to know what was happening and all in him twisted because from his point of view.. he couldn't.. they couldn't both feel like that..could they?

~*~

What was he thinking.  
No he wasn't thinking and he was angry without reason. Why?..because he saw John kissing one of those worshiping fans? Because for a second he wanted to be her and for the other he wanted to drag John away and snarl at her.  
Harry just felt like he needed to leave and couldn't watch any further.  
He ignored everyone around him and was pacing down the street ending up heading towards the river and stopped in front of the small wall and a few benches. It was far enough from the club and he couldn't hear anyone anymore. No noise and he couldn't just pretend he didn't know what that blonde one was about to do with his best friend. What she wanted from him and he pretty much looked okay with it. And he had the right of course he had, but it was still driving him crazy.  
Breathing slowly to get rid of the tension and anger, he wasn't exactly concentrating on his surrounding and didn't hear the fast steps on the damp asphalt until there was a hand on his shoulder and someone panting was close to him.  
Harry startled around and his angry eyes turned to the ones of surprise. It was John. John out of his breath, because he had been obviously running after him.

"You left. Pretty quickly I might say." brought out John, looking at him still trying to get more oxygen into his lungs.  
"Yeah. Felt like I need some fresh air. What are you doing here John? I thought you were getting it on with the blonde one from the first row.." answered Harry, looking up at him and the anger returning.  
The guitarist frowned slightly  
"You mean Rose. Listen Harry.."  
"Oh wonderful. It's _Rose_ now isn't it? Are you that easy, John? That one wasn't even interested in you as a person and you know that. And still you go _snog_ her," snapped back the drummer followed by an annoyed groan as he turned to the river, picking up a stone and angrily threw it into the water. John blinked a few times, speechless from the anger radiating from his best friend. He really rarely saw him like that to be honest. Mostly Harry was that kind of person who had learned to keep hold of himself all the time. A shield to the world.

"Why are you so angry? It was her snogging me not the other way around! I..I couldn't just push her away could I"  
"Oh and why not?"  
"Because it would spread around and we would lose fans. "  
"NO..don't do that. Don't make that about the band. You liked it." growled Harry at him and turned back to him, stepping closer and glaring up at him.  
John didn't step back and didn't let him get away with that as well:  
"Fine. Fine I let a fan kiss me. _Wow, big thing,  apocalypse._ Why do you care?"  
"Because I just do`! I care about you! I don't like them doing..that... I want.."  
Harry didn't finish the sentence, because he couldn't explain, he couldn't say it out loud nor could he even admit it to himself.  
"What. What do you want?!" asked John, slight anger in his voice, but Donna's words were ringing like a loud bell in the back of his mind.  "We know each other our entire lives. Just tell me." he said a little bit softer. Harry looked up and there was just a tiny shift in his eyes. It was something so vulnerable it almost hurt to see it.  
"Don't you see that's the problem! I ..I want....more.." he added, his voice almost breaking as the last word expressed the storm of feelings raging inside of him for quite a while now.  
John didn't move and partly even stopped breathing as there were Harry's hands on his chest. It was as if he was deciding between pulling him closer and pushing him away.  
And John finally got it and gave a weak laugh:  
"God. Donna was right. I am an idiot and so are you."  
"What the fuck are you talk...." started Harry to answer and frowning, but then there were long fingers on the back of his neck and with a gasp escaping him he was pulled into a demanding kiss. First tentative like a question and then harder like if John needed to prove something. After the first shock Harry started to kiss back, everything screaming at him inside his head and mostly it was pure relief, which he almost couldn't handle. After he made a small noise into the kiss, John pulled back again catching his breath a little bit.  
"Sorry did I misun..."  
And then it was John who didn't finish the sentence and Harry was kissing him again. The corner of his mouth turned up and  that made the other stop.

"Something funny?"  
"No... Just cursing myself for not saying anything and you too by the way." laughed a little bit John, cursing the time he had lost by not even admitting this to himself.  
"Aha now it's my fault that I don't just go snog you like that blonde one?" said Harry, his usual smirk on his face.  
"Oh don't start. You're anything but that girl. And a better kisser. Funny I didn't know that. Do it again." grinned John and got his third kiss from him, but it was slower this time. He sighed into it and when the drummer pulled away, he added:

"Definitely better. Care to go back?"  
"Not really. "  
"Fine let's go grab a cab and go home earlier."  
"Excellent plan."

And they started to walk back to a proper street and after a few steps John slipped his hand in the other's. God they were big idiots for such a long time, but not anymore.


End file.
